Interview: Dr. Splittoe

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Alan Splittoe, a professor of Putting Your Clothes On In The Morning But Real Philosophical About It at Smartee University. We discussed how to dress in an elegant manner and his own personal style.

J: There’s been a revival of menswear in recent years. Men are tying their ties and wearing proper shoes. Steps in the right direction? Or just faux authenticity?

DAS: swagswag swag swag swag swagger swaggin’

J: That makes a lot of sense. Do you have advice for how to avoid the pitfalls of “playing dress-up”?

DAS: swag swag swag

J: What’s your advice to those just learning the rules? Play hardline and then break the rules? Or just always break the rules?

DAS: swag swag swagger swaggy swag

J: It allows men to keep things simple. Y’know, so you don’t have to think a lot in the morning. Personal development is similar between men’s wardrobes but always has differences.

DAS: swag swag swig swag

J: What’s your personal uniform?

DAS: swag

J: You’re writing a book about menswear. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

DAS: swaggiest swag

J: You brought up good point about RL earlier, how his inauthenticity ended up being kinda’ authentic. Is accepting that dressing in the morning has small elements of dress-up a big secret to dressing happily?

DAS: swagger swiggin’ swag swug swag

J: Thanks for taking the time to talk with GTBT.

DAS: swag


I hope this was super-informative for all my readers. Dr. Splittoe’s book is out 9/12/12.

History of Belgian Loafers

John: Sam has been writing extensively about clothing history recently. I haven’t cross-checked his work but whatever: this is a clothing blog and has useless knowledge.

Sam:
lets talk abut the history of belgian slippers

Belgian slippers are really cool and had to start from somewhere

after extensive reseach I found that belgian slioppers were invented in 1954 by henri coppens

this makes a lot of sense because coppens is belgian which is proably why they are called belgian loafters



they are slipons because belgium used to be communist and everyone knows that communists are lazy

they were too lazy to tie their shows so they made slipons cool right



so ig ess communists did create something really cool and thats the belgian loafer because I think coppens was a communist

now days there are some really cool referential pieces that you can be getting to wear



you can look like an old time communist when you wear loafers

everyone will know what a lazy fuck you are

Password Problems

Something odd happened on GTBT last week. It appears that Sam leaked the password to someone. There was a password change and some confusion, but all is well. GTBT will be back to the regular nonsense in a day or two.

While we were gone, the perpetrator did some blogging of his own. Was it good? I don’t personally think so, but I tend to prefer personality over cold hard facts (like the fact that you should consider wearing linen in the summer).

However, the perpetrator did gather himself some acclaim. It was a small badge, but it was still a badge. He was featured on the web-zine Valet. I like the Valet crew. They bump good blogs and do some quality reviews and promotions themselves. They’ve bumped GTBT a few times so I suppose I should thank them for many of my hits that I get each day.

But this? They bumped a kid who I don’t know. He probably sits in his basement, plays Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, and is served Nilla Wafers and milk by his mother when he returns home from school. Does he even wear adult sized pants? What does he know? I don’t know how much he knows. I supposed he reads menswear blogs because he has heard of Grenson and such, but does he have first hand experience? How can you tell when people have had first hand experience? Pictures or it didn’t happen? Being well-versed in the appreciation of expensive clothing?

At the end of the day, Valet is a business. They sell ads and try to create traffic. The best way (apparently) to create traffic is to bump blogs that feature products. But is that really the case? Is that a current truth?

I talk a lot about the contradiction of consumerism and the human drive towards what I may suppose to be a utopia: a place where people aren’t petulant and small. At this future, humans could get beyond the need for differentiation (which in menswear is product driven) or need for place (or perhaps it would be inherent in us, but the result would be the same). We are quite a long way off, aren’t we?

-John

Grenson Penny Loafers

As mentioned previously, spring and summer are on their way. It never hurts to have some casual foot wear to wear with jeans, lightweight trousers, or shorts. While not appropriate for a suit, these loafers from the Heritage Research x Grenson collaboration look great for most guys who don't have to wear a suit every day. Red brick has seen some time in the sun, and I'm sure you've seen other sand suede loafers with a red brick sole, but blue soles are often paired with garish uppers. With an upper that is toned to match the navy sole, the navy colorway Grenson offers is a great way to mix it up without blinding every one.



Each loafer is outfitted with a Danite sole and are ready for some summer stomping.




Some would argue that Grensons are too bulky, which may be true, but the bulkiness allows for a wider pant leg. So if your leg opening is 16" or 17", I can't think of a better loafer for you to purchase.

Available at Grenson.

-Frances

Linen Pants

When the summer heat rolls around, you'll occasionally need something even lighter than twill pants to keep yourself cool. This is where the fabric linen comes into play. It's light and breathable because the weave is loose and the fabric isn't heavy. They look great with a hard crease and a fat 2" cuff.

Howard Yount has been releasing awesome stuff for a few years now. His trousers are slim but do not fall victim to the "skinny pant syndrome". This season he's offering linen pants in your regular colors (grey, khaki) and some wacky plaids.

If you live in an area that gets hot in the summer and you like to keep your look slim and tailored, Howard Yount has you covered with his quintessential linen pants.







Available at Howard Yount

-Frances

Sid Mashburn Sport Shirts

Hey, I’m Frances and I’m helping with Sam’s posts because Sam’s grounded and can’t use the computer right now. I was asked to discuss casual wear and pick out a shirt that I thought deserved attention.

Pop-overs are a great way to show your casualness. They aren’t formal at all and can really show your playful personality. Shirts like this short-sleeve pop-over that Sid Mashburn sells are definitely on my want list. Sport shirts are quintessential to any wardrobe and are a great basic to build on. Flap-pockets are great too because they add another layer of interesting to your outfit.

I can’t say it better than Mashburn himself: The short-sleeved variation on what may be the perfect sport shirt, with a button-down collar and a single-button-flap breast pocket. Lightweight, nonfused, German-woven interlining in the collar and plackets give it a nice ease. The cut is slim but not skinny — a man's shirt. We love the Beach Boys vibe.



Available at Sid Mashburn's shop

Street Style

Perhaps the man was dead or perhaps he was having an out of body experience. Either way, his current reality was not consistent with his previous one. Floating through a park, as the man was doing, would not be considered to be a reality. He saw people pass beneath him, not noticing him. The people looked funny. They shone as if illuminated from the inside, with dark specks, like the dust settled in light bulbs, darkening their brain, stomach, or heart. Wind tickled the leaves on the trees. They were oak and wise.

The man floated by an apartment complex. The complex was sandstone. It was ivory, strong, and, ancient only in the American sense, a prehistoric monolith. On the third floor sat a blogger. He had a sensitive face, Ephesian in characteristic, and big eyes. He wore a properly trimmed 5 o’clock shadow that he thought made him look distinguished. His mother said it made him look like a lousy crook.

He was at his computer, working the blogga’s grind. Press releases from companies poured in. Though he had something more important to post on his website. He had been previously been occupied with pontificating existential ideas to his followers on tumblr. They were a shallow and uncreative bunch: always biting trends ‘n shit and emulating others. He demanded that they pave their own way, otherwise they couldn’t be individuals and society wouldn’t be progressive; it would be boring and stagnant.

Something new tickled the blogger’s fancy. At a recent get-together, a person with a camera lens bigger than his brain had taken his picture.

He was wearing expensive things.

It was fucking great.

He posted the picture to his blog. He had notes in seconds. “sooo coooll” and “where can i get that coat”.

God, it was awesome. He was getting there. Getting to be a godhead.

The floating man floated on, right past the apartment. Wind tickled the leaves on the trees. There was a time not long ago that the wind through the trees was Zeus bestowing his wisdom. Funny, Zeus had loads of kids and never had a blog. That’s not a character you would want to emulate. Now that wind was known as just wind. It didn’t care. It wasn’t an idol. It carried the floating man onward, hopefully to brighter futures.

Maybe a place where people shone like lightbulbs, without the settled dust.